The first half of 2024 was an intensive and productive work period. One year after the Copenhagen Congress and the General Assembly, the UIA Council has defined priorities, initiated projects, formulated a vision and goals for the reorganisation of the UIA with the aim of improving its governance. It has progressed significantly in the preparation of the revision of the Union’s statues and bylaws in line with the recommendations of the 2021-2023 Task Force adopted by the Copenhagen General Assembly.
The process of revisiting the Union’s structure, clarifying its mission and proposing ways in which the UIA can be further strengthened has moved forward. Concrete proposals will be presented for vote at the Kuala Lumpur Extraordinary General Assembly (EGA) in November 2024. Ahead of the EGA, Member Sections will receive the finalised revision items and will be invited to discuss them during the five regional information meetings that will be convened for this specific purpose. An invitation to the EGA will be soon sent to the Member Sections.
Today, the UIA gathers 114 Member Sections representing the architects’ associations of 121 countries. Since the beginning of the 2023-2026 term, 3 Member Sections have joined or re-joined the Union and 2 are in the process of application.
The following has been accomplished in the first 6 months of 2024:
1. ORGANISATION
Council
The Task Force Group recommendations adopted by the General Assembly have been implemented since the beginning of the term. Following the Council’s agreement:
- Council and Bureau have been fused on an experimental basis;
- Council meetings are held online once a month;
- Council in person meetings took place in November 2023 in Paris and in May 2024 in Tunis;
- Six Council Committees were constituted.
Appointments and External support
- Two Architects appointed as Coordinators, one for Council Committees and one for UIA Working Bodies joined in November and January respectively to help concretise the professionalisation of UIA work
- After the appointment of a Legal Adviser and an Auditor last October, Council also appointed a new expert accounting firm, NEXIA, in February
- Χαιρε-Conseil, a Human Resources firm, was appointed in April in order to help with unexpected difficulties at the Secretariat, establish missing rules, improve the working atmosphere at the Secretariat and prepare recruitments.
Headquarters
- Coordination meetings with the Secretary General, the President, the Coordinators and staff are held once a week to set priorities and organise work.
- Coordinators visit the Secretariat three days every month to coordinate work with staff.
- International Officers (President, Secretary General and Treasurer) visit the headquarters regularly for one-week work sessions (the President and Secretary General together in January, all three International Officers together in March and the President in June).
- An important decision was taken requiring double signature by international officers for all contracts and the obligation to issue all contracts in both French and English.
- Two young staff members resigned in February and March. The HR put in place a transitional organisation and prepared a call for new recruitments. Two new staff members selected by the Secretary General, President and Region I Vice-President will join the UIA, in July and September.
- Discussions with external experts and the HR specialist on an appropriate structure for the UIA Secretariat are ongoing.
- The structure and the contents of a Handover Manual have been defined and this extensive project is in elaboration.
- Important decisions were taken in regard to the UIA archives (196 archive boxes stored in a warehouse) that need to be digitalized and the server that needs to be organized. An IT specialist was mandated with the necessary programming. Organisation of server and definition of digital archives structure is in progress.
- The beginning of works at the Montparnasse tower was postponed to July 2025. Options for the UIA headquarters are being examined by a Task Force under the leadership of the Secretary General.
2. COUNCIL COMMITTEES
- The Council Committees (Vision and Strategy, Revision, Ethics, Finance, Communication and Events) hold frequent meetings. Their work is presented and discussed during Council meetings. Coordinators leading the think-tanks on the involvement of young architects and the role of Past Presidents presented their proposals to Council at the Tunis meeting.
- The Vision and Strategy Committee focused on the redefinition and concretisation of the UIA’s global mission, analysed and prioritised the relations with international organisations and proposed the priorities and major projects of the term that were adopted by the Council.
- The Revision Committee focused on the transposition of the Task Force Group recommendations adopted by the General Assembly and worked on different chapters of the revision; particularly the abolition of the Bureau and the clarification of roles of elected representatives.
- The Ethics Committee in collaboration with the legal adviser reviewed Appendix V “Conflict of interest policy” and proposed the adherence of the UIA to the code of ethics and conduct for NGO’s by WANGO with the aim increase transparency. The Committee is now working on the UIA Code of Conduct and disciplinary action.
- The Finance Committee has been working on rules for management of UIA financial resources, procedures concerning approval of expenses, a reserve policy proposal, rules for the new membership fees solidarity fund, travel expenses policy and travel expenses reimbursement protocol, as well as procedures concerning information to Council about the financial status and bank statements. Most proposals were adopted by Council and are in practice, although they need to be formalised as regulations.
- The Communication Committee has achieved considerable improvement of the UIA website thanks to the external support organised by the Chair of Communication Committee. The interactive map/database on professional practice coordinated between PPC and Communication Committee is in progress. Information of 2/3 of the ca 300 UIA Competitions is prepared and has began being uploaded on the interactive competition map. A UIA MAG was created and the 3 first articles by Commission Co-Directors were posted. UIA communiqués are regularly posted on social media.
- The Events committee reviewed the Congress and Forum contracts, discussed the necessity to better differentiate the different types of UIA Events and proposes a modification of the rhythm of Congresses.
3. THEMATIC STRUCTURE OF THE UIA
The new organisation of Working Bodies ensuring equal representation of the 5 UIA Regions and, in view of the high number of nominations received, participation in different roles, is now successfully in practice. The appointment of Commission Co-Directors and members was completed in December and that of Work programmes in January. For the first time in UIA history, gender equity was achieved in the leadership of the UIA Working Bodies. With the exception of the Professional Practice Commission, the other 5 Commissions and all 13 Work Programmes are each co-directed by a woman and a man.
The thematic structure of the UIA was clarified in 3 thematic areas (education, professional practice, sustainability) and the working bodies classified according to the nature of their work (permanent Commissions, Boards with permanent tasks ensuring expertise to external clients, Task Forces). The organisation of UIA Working Bodies in thematic areas aims for a better collaboration and coordination of all UIA entities working in the same domain. All UIA Working Bodies are now linked to international organisations working in the same thematic area in order to enrich exchanges, share experiences and increase the relevance and the impact of the outcomes. The end of 2023 reportinformed about the terms of reference for Commission work.
Individual meetings were conducted with Commission Co-Directors to discuss and clarify terms of reference for the work to accomplish during the term. Coordination meetings with Co-Directors of Work Programmes were conducted to organise their work.
The UIA Council unanimously decided to focus on exploiting the potential of the UNESCO-UIA Validation System and approved the proposal of the Validation Board to create UIA in-house validation manager from 2025 onwards and plan the transition with the RIBA.
The third edition of the 2030 Guidebook elaborated by the UN17SDGs Commission was launched in March.
4. UIA MAJOR PROJECTS OF THE TERM
Organisation:
Revision of Articles and Bylaws, restructuring and reinforcement of Secretariat, intensification of collaboration with regional and international organisations
Update and increase relevance:
Review Professional Practice Accord, relaunch databank on professional practice, guidelines on intellectual property with focus on digitalisation and AI (MoU with WIPO in view), review of UNESCO-UIA Education Charter. Further development of UNESCO-UIA Validation of Schools and Systems
Thematic focus:
Elaborate the Urbanisation Charter in collaboration with UNESCO, UN-Habitat, WHO, Barcelona Congress. The UIA’s work will be oriented towards the development of a white paper on cities / an urbanisation charter to be achieved for the Barcelona Congress.
Envisaged Actions:
A UIA student competition on “Rebuilding an Urban Area Destroyed by Disaster” to be organised by the Human and Natural Disasters Work Programme.
A UIA young architects’ competition on the theme “Future of the Profession” with the intention to exhibit shortlisted entries and organise events during the 2025 Venice Biennale.
5. INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS
The appointment of UIA representatives was finalised in February. A coordination meeting with UIA representatives in international organisations was organised in March to clarify tasks and explain the importance given to the collaboration with international organisations. The goal is to increase the impact of the UIA and therefore operate at two levels (political and technical/professional). This creates the need to intensify the collaboration of the representatives with Council.
In January, the UIA became member the Davos Baukultur Alliance. Council also decided to honour the proposal of partnership with the AAF (Association of Francophone Architects).
A meeting with ACE, FPAA, ARCASIA, AUA took place in April in order to concretise collaboration and coordinate projects of common interest. The goal is to collaborate on international events and always involve the relevant regional organisation in which the event is taking place.
The UIA continues its collaboration with international organisations such as UN-Habitat, UNESCO and UNFCCC on initiatives that seek to raise awareness of the relevance of architecture and influence public policy. The UIA 2030 Award and participation in COP29 are concrete examples of the UIA’s advocacy for quality in the built environment and sustainable development.
The reinforcement of the Union’s collaboration with international organisations is a priority for this term aiming to increase the UIA’s relevance and focusing on what the UIA can do that others cannot. The UIA must further develop its role in its privileged relationship with international organisations.
6. UIA PARTICIPATION AT SPECIAL EVENTS IN 2024
The UIA Architecture and Children Work Programme participated in the UNESCO World Conference on Culture and Arts Education last February in Abu Dhabi. This was an opportunity to promote the Built Environment Education Charter.
The UIA had a strong attendance at the Global Forum on Building and Climate held on 7-8 March in Paris and organised by the French government and UN Global Alliance. The UIA delegation included the President, the Secretary General, one UN 17 SDGs Commission Co-Director and the UIA Ambassador to the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP). The UIA President presented the UIA-ACE-CNOA Joint Declaration for “Sustainable Architecture to Turn the World of Today into the World of Tomorrow” at the plenary session.
The Ordre des Architectes de Tunisie (OAT) hosted a UIA Council meeting in Tunis in May. The OAT invited UIA Members of Council to attend its 50th anniversary celebrations held during the same week. With a conference held to deliberate on the role the architect as a vector for development, the event concluded with a joint declaration signed by the UIA, UMAR (Union of Mediterranean Architects), FAFA (Fédération des Architectes Francophones d’Afrique), AAF (Alliance des Architectes Francophones) and the OAT (Ordre des Architectes de Tunisie)
The priority events that the UIA will participate with a strong message are as follows:
- ECOSOC Summit on Future on 21-22 September in New York
- WUF12 in 4-8 November in Cairo
- COP29 on 11-24 November in Baku
- WHO Conference on Air Pollution and Health on 25-27March 2025 in Cartagena Columbia
- VENICE BIENALE opening on 07 May 2025
The theme of the World Architecture Day 2024 is “Engaging youth to create a better Urban Future”. The Council is currently discussing the particular focus for the UIA celebration on 7 October and will post a relevant communiqué so that our Member Sections can plan accordingly.
7. 2024 UIA FORUM IN KUALA LUMPUR
The preparations for the 2024 Forum in Kuala Lumpur are completed and registration is ongoing since January on the Forum website. We look forward to a very successful 2024 UIA International Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 15-19 November with the theme of “Diversecity” and invite all Member Sections to come to this promising event.
8. BARCELONA 2026 WORLD CONGRESS OF ARCHITECTS AND UNESCO-UIA WORLD CAPITAL OF ARCHITECTURE
The 2026 World Congress of Architects, organised Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya (COAC) and the Consejo Superior de Colegios de Arquitectos de España (CSCAE), has been declared as an event of public interest by the Spanish government. A competition for the event’s curators was conducted and winners announced. All committees have been constituted and preparations are underway. Fundació Mies van der Rohe and the Barcelona City Council have launched an international single stage ideas competition open to all young architects around the world as part of the city’s nomination as the 2026 UNESCO-UIA World Capital of Architecture. Winning projects for the 10 blind walls in different parts of the city will be realized for the Congress in 2026. This will be the first implementation of the UIA’s new concept that UIA Congresses should implement in addition to the theoretical legacy, that is, leaving a lasting and tangible mark of public interest in the World Capital of Architecture city.